[Rodrunner]

I was born in 1962, Altho sometimes I wish I was a teen in the 50's I feel like I was born in the wrong era. I like rock & roll, (they call it OLDIES now) girls in poodle skirts and pony tails, Drive Inn's, Route 66, Street dragging and old Hot Rods. To me there's nothing like crusin in my 57 chevy with the "OLDIES" on the raido. It's like my own personal time machine. Any of you guys a teen in the 50's? How was it? Like American Graffiti or Happy Days? Was life simpler then or are we mislead by movies and television? Color me nastalga.
You'r only as old as you allow yourself to be!

[ August 03, 2002: Message edited by: Rodrunner ]</p>

[38 special]

Can't help you Rodrunner, I was born in 55 but I do like cruising with the oldies. I liked the mini-skirt much better than the poodle skirt. I feel better knowing I'm not in the old guy catagory yet. Any one else brave enough to take this one on??????

[Madd Syntst]

All I remember is my sisters being that way. American Dance Band and Hallabaloo. Flintstones came on Friday night before I went to bed. Saw sound of music at the drive in. Back street drag races and getting buster for squares (cigs)

[FASTFORD]

i was(?) a teen in the 60`s. have an older bro who`s job was to keep an eye on me. he hung around with even older guys,all i remember is the neat cars,guys in jeans, t-shirts & pointy shoes (lol) and the MUSIC (you can understand the words!).give me that old time rock & roll!i prefer street rods & early to mid 50 cars & customs,i think cause of my early exposure to them. very few of them were painted,most guys spent all they had makin em go FAST!next is mid 60 to early 70 muscle cars that i grew up seeing & driving. mini skirts!i remember my school sending girls home cause of skirts being to short! bell bottom pants,they sent some notes home when they 1st came out! not proper attire! there`s a lot more but no time or space for it. would like to hear from the guys/gals that lived it,nice topic.

[Gr8 '48 bow tie]

I lived it, loved it, long for it. As soon as we figure out how to do time travel I'd like to go back and do it all over again. Sock hops, drive in movies, crusing in the family '55 chevy. YES! It was happy days, and much more. There is no way to tell you what it was like, its one of those things that you had to be there to know.

My first car was a '40 chevy that I paid $40. for. It ran very well eventhough I was forced to keep it factory stock. It was a lot of fun but the girls didn't like it as much as the '55 so I had to keep thinking up excuses to use the car. It became very difficult to have a believable excuse after a few weeks.

[ August 04, 2002: Message edited by: Gr8 '48 bow tie ]</p>

[Tom]

I wasn't a teen but remember many parts...have a uncle who at the time was dating my aunt he used to come an pick her up in a ford roadster all rodded and chromed,louder than hell,the rides in that thing scared the snot out of me but couldn't wait for the next time,then he came one day in a brand new 59 vette with fuel injection,a tourqois and silver job,that car was the one that started my love affair with automobiles I was 8 then but still remember the sound it made and never cared if the radio worked in any machine scince

[hotrodit]

me too, born too late & in the wrong place...darn it, so i got to live in my own little world full of that stuff.
I LOVE IT!!! :p

[helrazr3]

i was born in 64 and i spent a lot of time wishing i was born 15 to 20 yrs before so i could experience the simple times that i longed for . from what my parents tell me at times it was like american graffiti. but it was the same time everyone was building fallout shelters and school kids had civil defence drills regularly not to mention raceism. i dont mean to sound like a heavy but it just goes to show you that the grass is always greener on the other side .i still love little duece coups drive ins and rock and roll!!

[WoodsEdge]

OK boys and girls, guess I'm the old f**t. 1957, turned 16, spent the summer traveling with a carnival, worked on the merry-go-round, saved my money and bought my 40 ford. Paid $75 and drove it home. The engine was shot so with my dads supervision built a 48 Merc, Clay Smith cam, Jahns pistons, 2 duce intake, and headers ordered from JC Whitney. She turned 82mph in an eighth, that was with a flagman, no tree back then, and the clock was probably way off. Made me feel good tho. It was a simpler time, a lot of people did worry about the A-bomb, some built bomb shelters. Maybe as you get older you remember the good and forget the bad. I remember good times, hot rods, rock and roll, pretty girls, drive-in resterants with curb service, drive-in movies, racing on country roads and a few things I can't write about. It was a great time to live.
Jack

[dmorris1200]

Wow Jack they had JC Whitney back then? Learn something every day. By the way, still have rock&roll (a little heavier now), pretty girls (can still look), racing through the pine barons of Jersey, and a drive-in food chain here called Stewarts where all the local hot rods hang out on Sunday nights for a cheeseburger and a chilled mug of Stewarts root beer. Do miss the drive-ins though. I just try to enjoy what I can before the politically correct police take it away.

[WoodsEdge]

Never been to the Jersey Shores, DMorris, but it sounds like a great place to cruz. Believe everythings changed here.
Jack

[hotrodit]

Hey Jack can i be you? well we have a rock'n'roll weekender here in the UK, & its about 98% pure American 50's rock'n'roll/rockabilly & you'll hardly hear any popular music from that era but mostly kool obscure stuff.
Its called Hemsby weekender & attracts 4 to 5 thousand guys'n'gals from all over the globe & is on in May & Oct, May being the bigger one. It always attracts plenty of Bikes Rods & Cruisers & has a great atmosphere, check it out if you like <a href="http://www.hemsbyrocknroll.co.uk" target="_blank">www.hemsbyrocknroll.co.uk</a>

[WayOutCat]

I guess I'm one of the youngest old guys here.

I hear ya about time travelling with the help of cars and music. I was born in '67 so I spent *every* single one of my teenage years in the Reagan era, which pissed me off to no end.

I can't tell you how many things I hated about the 80's: short hair on girls, really bad music, worse clothes, slow cars, rampant political conservatism.

I hear that the 80's were even darker in the U.K., what with Thatcher being completely insane and all, but they were plenty depressing here in the states, as far as I was concerned. A person who believed in fun and freedom was out of place then, in a big way.

[ August 06, 2002: Message edited by: WayOutCat ]</p>

[Gumpa_38]

Back in 1959 I was getting JJ Washoski catalogs that looked like the JC Whitney catalogs of the 60s with the same address. Gumpa

[Bad Rat]

Well I was born in 1940, grew up in New mexico,,didn't need locks on the doors then, always knew where the car keys were, in the car,, no reason to take them out,, had a phone but it was a party line with 4 or 5 other familys , had to wait for a certain # of rings,to see if it was for you,, My dad was a Chev and Olds dealer, and my job after school and in the summer was to take care of all the used cars,, make sure they were serviced, washed, and parked in order of the year that they were, usually I got to drive a car from the lot on fri and sat nights,,But my school car was a 47 chev convertable,, I had to work and pay for it, can't remember how much it cost, but 100$ rings a bell, movies were 10 cents, pop a nickle, and popcorn 5 cents,, went to see all of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies, did lots of cruzin, steet racing , and staying out late,, worried about the ole man waiting up for me if I wasn't home on time, and did get caught most of the time, most of the tickets I got were for loud mufflers,, or the lack of,, much better life in those days,, not everyone hated each other then,, every one was a friend,, except maybe the jerk in school that tryed stealing your girl,then that was settled out behind the shed,, Those were the days alright,,